The three-story Brooklyn residence was built in compliance with the German Passiv Haus standards, which emphasizes the heavy insulation of walls and openings, and the precise balancing of interior and exterior temperatures. The building technique cuts down not only on energy consumption and cost, but also on initial construction costs usually allocated to expansive traditional heating and ventilation systems. During most of the year with extreme weather (summer and winter, specifically), the house maintains a very tight seal and all ventilation is done through the Passive House ventilation duct system. But on beautiful spring days when the temperature is mild (such as the day of our visit) allow for fresh air and ample ventilation, the house remains open to the outdoor weather in temperate parts of the year.

When we arrived at the house, we waited inside the clothing and design store at ground level where we were met by the design team. The stunning raw concrete space looks down upon a double height workshop and design laboratory, where owner GGrippo produces his latest “creative activism” designs; fantastic recycled artwork mixed with adorable cashmere toys and children’s clothing.

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7 Comments

Howdy this is sort of of off topic however i was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you need to manually code with HTML. Im starting your blog soon but have zero coding expertise well, i wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help will be enormously appreciated!

AmarchitxFebruary 28, 2014 at 10:58 am

I understand the great use of open staircase for air circulation, but do these stairs meet code? The riser height openings seem to be larger than the 4″ round sphere rule.

click through the follo...February 24, 2013 at 8:08 am

Hello! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having problems finding one? Thanks a lot!|

loadingdock5April 16, 2012 at 1:40 am

the construction costs were $650k
not millions

jetle25April 26, 2011 at 12:09 pm

Ok great. But this looks mighty expensive. Who can afford to have a house like this? Only the wealthy who live in Williamsburg. I find that ironic and irritating. As beautiful and passive this House is. I don’t see it really thinking in a all inclusive reality that people don’t have millions of dollars to blow on a new house. Maybe this can kickstart something for current building guidelines to steer to more sustainable, passive energy construction. There is natural building that uses less new technology and still remain passive and affordable.